殺虫剤(さっちゅうざい)

殺虫剤(さっちゅうざい) is insecticide — a product that kills insects, as opposed to one that merely keeps them away. Formation: 殺虫(さっちゅう) 'killing insects' + 剤(ざい) 'agent'.

Forms sold in Japan:

• スプレー式(しき): aerosol spray, the everyday kind
• 煙(けむり)タイプ: fumigators, set off in a sealed room and left for hours
• 置(お)き型(がた): bait traps and plug-in units left in place

Collocations

• 殺虫剤(さっちゅうざい)を撒(ま)く: to spread insecticide over an area
• 殺虫剤(さっちゅうざい)をかける: to spray it directly onto an insect

Compare 防虫剤(ぼうちゅうざい), which repels rather than kills — mothballs and drawer sachets. 蚊取(かと)り線香(せんこう), the coil burned on a summer evening, sits between the two: it kills mosquitoes but is used as a preventive.